Clutch



A'. H.' mmm.

CLUTCH. APPLICATION FILED MAY 21. :92.0.

A' .wanted pw. 20, 1921,

UNITEDv STATES PATENT OFFICE.

AUGUST H. LEIPERT, or NEW YORK, N. Y., AssIoNon To INTERNATIONAL MOTOR COMPANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.,.A CORPORATION or DELAWARE.

CLUTCH.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, AUGUST H. LEIPERT,

a citizen of the United States, residing in the borough of Queens of the city of New York, in the State of lNew York, have invented certain new a'nd useful Improvements ii Clutches, of Awhich the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawing formingapart hereof.

, ,improved follower plate showlng the in- This invention relates to disk clutches in which a pressure plate is adapted to be brought into engagement with the clutch facing for the purpose of engaging a driven element frictionally with the driving element. In clutches ofthis type'it is the usual practice to effect this engagement by means of springs which press against the follower plate, the tension of these springs being overcome by the driver when the follower plate is disengaged to release the clutch. In engaging clutch elements it is necessary to ease the follower plate against the frictional clutch plate with great. skill and careif an easy start of the vehicle is to be obtained andl the parts relieved of shock and undue torsional strains. Even with the exercise ofthe greatest care, it is,

evident that when the follower plate engages the clutch face throughout and 'presses this facing throughout into engagement with the other element of the-clutch the pick-up is bound to be unduly quick since, except lfor slippage between surfaces, all points are engaged simultaneously throughout the contacting faces. By the present invention it is sought to reduce-the shock on the parts tive inclination may be'employed, but onev such way which is satisfactory has-been'illustrated in the accompanying drawing. In this case the faceof the follower plate is machined at an angle tothe vertical, but sufficient lost motion is provided in the associated parts to permit this follower plate to .Specification of Letters Patent.

clined face. Y

One well knowntype of clutch with-which this invention is particularly useful is illustrated inthe figures of the drawing and includes generally as clutch elements av wheel a, which may be the fly-wheel to whichis secured the clutch casing o. The face of the iy-wheel a is adapted to be engaged by a friction disk c mounted on a hub c which iskeyed on a driven shaft d. The clutch facing c is adaptedto be brought into operative engagement with the face of the flywheel a by means of a movable presser plate Patented Dec. 20, .1921.

Application med may 21, .1920. serial No. 383,124.

or follower plate e mounted on radial arms,

one of which is indicated at f. O ne end f of each of these arms f rests slidably in a recess in the inner wall of the housing b and the other end f2 is engaged somewhat loosely 'by a slidable iinger g extending through the clutch housing andadapted to beA reciprocated through operative connections extending to va rock 'shaft h, all in a manner well known. rlhe rock shaft It is usually actuated lby meansof a foot pedal under the control of lthe 'driverLl The follower plate e is pressed into engagement with the clutch facing c so as to bring the latter into driving "contact with, the face of the Hy-wheel a by means ofa plurality of springs supported in the housing b, one of these springs being indicated vat z'. l l It has been the established practice to machine up all of the elements of the clutch and to-so mount them that whenthe springs i are permitted to act they will press the fol lower plate e4 uniformly into contact with the clutch facing @wat all points and simultaneously engage'the clutch facing c atall points with the face of the clutch element a. This action is one intended to bring the entire load on the motor in a single operation. The resulting'strainand unpleasant shocks are usually reduced so far as possible by the skill of the driver, the best practice being to ease the follower plate e into engagement With the clutch facing in such vmanner as-to let the clutch slip somewhat and take hold slowly first. This results in great wear of the clutch facing and does not give the best lpick-up. In accordance with the present indifferent points of these faces when the clutch iseased in. One )vlay of bringing this ,about is by machining off the face of Y thefollower plate fromI the truly vertical .so that one lportion thereof, under the in- Huence of the s rinfrs'z' will enOa e a' 0r- P n a s g P tigri of the clutch facing c thereby press-ing itiagainst the clutch element a before other portions are brought together. As successive points engage a slow and uniform pickup will be obtained and the load applied gently. As the follower plate continues its travel under the influence of the springs t' a greater number of\points will be successively brought into engagement as between the clutch elements until finally the plate e will tilt somewhat so as to bringits face into a substantially vertical" plane and in engagement throughout with the clutch facing c. This tilting will be permitted in the illustrated-embodiment vby the loose connections between the arms f andthe clutch housing xb and the operating fingers g. All violent shocks :by the two sudden application of the load are eliminated by the construction described and too great a. premium is not put on the `skill of the operator since when the clutch is let in qulckly the same successive engagement of points throughout the contacting faces will be gone through before theentire-v surface contact is effected.

It Will .bel evident to one skilled in the art that other means of bringing about the same gradual vengagement between the clutch elements can be emp'lloyed with some degree of effectiveness. Foi-instance, it is possible that the springs z' might be of different strengths so as to operate successively in effecting vcomplete engagement. Again, the clutch lining c might be tilted somewhat so as to engage with the element a at different points successively before complete engagement throughout. is brought about.

The spirit of the invention will.' appear from the scope Which is intended to be afforded to this invention bythe appended claims. i'

I claim, as my invention- 1. A clutch comlprising a driving member, a friction clutch e ement, a shaft supporting `it, the proximate facesl of the driving member and friction clutch element being in planes at right angles to the axis of the shaft, a plate movable to press all` of said elements into driving engagement,said plate lia-ving its face inclined to the axis .of the shaft to effect the surfaceengagement of said members throughout gradually, and means to mount the plate tiltably.

2. A disk clutch comprising a driving member, a driven member, a friction clutch disk carried thereby and a presser plate having its face in proximity to the clutch disk machined to a plane at an angle to the plane of the proximate face of the clutch element and movable to bear against t-he face of the clutch element throughout.

rThis specification signed this- 13th day of t May, A. D. 1920.

. AUGUST H. LEIPE'RT. 

